Dad’s Secret to Great BBQ Chicken

Posted about 4 years ago|Comments Off on Dad’s Secret to Great BBQ Chicken

By K.B. Owen

We all know that Father’s Day gives us a chance to recognize the special dads in our lives. Perhaps, when we think of our fathers, we recall the games of catch, or the family road trips, or our favorite televised sporting events, or maybe those long workdays that dad had to put in – a sacrifice that, as adults, we now truly recognize.

While I have a lot of those kinds of memories, I always think of my dad as…the Griller. The man could (and still can) make anything edible taste amazing when cooked over open flame. During the summer months, I thrived on steak, chicken, kabobs, pasta salad, and burnt marshmallows. As his only child, I learned all his tips and tricks – whether charcoal or gas, lighter fluid or a flick of the switch, it didn’t matter. He was the Grill Master, and I was his young Padawan. I learned the Way of the Tongs.

So in honor of Father’s Day, I’d like to share a family favorite that I turn to again and again: my dad’s trick for cooking juicy, skinless, fall-from-the-bone barbecue chicken.

Ingredients:

6 chicken leg quarters (thigh and drumstick still attached). If you opt for chicken breasts, reduce cooking time by 10 minutes so they don’t dry out.

16 ounces of your favorite barbecue sauce (the thicker, the better)

Heavy duty aluminum foil

Directions:

Carefully strip the skin from the raw chicken , washing BOTH the skin and the chicken and blotting everything dry. Do NOT discard the skin.

Place the chicken quarters side-by-side on a generous square of heavy-duty foil, meaty sides up. (If you think all 6 legs would make too cumbersome of a packet – you’ll be flipping it on the grill – you can divide the legs between two packets, rather than having them all in one).

Place the skins loosely BACK ON TOP of the chicken legs, covering the meaty parts in particular. This will keep the chicken extra-moist, and will be ridiculously easy to take off before the sauce goes on.

Crimp the foil firmly around the edges to form a packet to seal most of the juices in (some will escape during grilling, but don’t worry about that). You want a little room inside there – don’t wrap them tightly in the foil, as you would a potato.

Grill the packet(s) over a hot fire (for charcoal briquettes, that means they are all gray, and you can barely tolerate holding a hand over them) or medium-high heat (gas grill) for 40 minutes, flipping the packet once after the first 20 minutes.

Take the packet(s) off the grill and cut open the foil (use oven mitts when handling – it’s going to be hot and rather messy). The skin will slide right off; discard skin and foil. Pour barbecue sauce into a shallow pan. Using tongs, DREDGE the chicken in the sauce, coating both sides. (We don’t mess around with brushes at our house. It’s all we can do not to lick our fingers). It’s a little tricky, because the chicken will want to come off the bone at this point. Show ‘em who’s boss.

Return the coated chicken to the grill, cooking for barely 2 minutes on each side, until the sauce is set.